The Guidance of the Heart
by WogglebugLoveProductions
Summary: Pinocchio and his friend Sara and Jiminy Cricket go on a journey to rescue her brother and the other boys who were turned into donkeys on Pleasure Island and meet with many new friends and adventures along the way.
1. Chapter 1

It was very clear and warm day in the Springtime in a little village in Tuscany, Italy. It was just now in a quaint little schoolhouse that a wise old teacher was giving his students their last lessons of the day.

"And so," he said, "can any of you tell me what you think separates us human beings from the rest of the animal kingdom?"

Almost immediately then, a small boy who had black hair and blue eyes and wore a pair of red overalls over a yellow shirt raised his hand up high.

"Yes, Pinocchio," the teacher called to him.

"What I think separates us as human beings from all other animals," Pinocchio said, "is in our ability to know right from wrong and also to choose when to do either one."

"Very, very good, Pinocchio!" the teacher praised his student proudly. "Yes, that is an excellent answer. We as human beings must always decide what is right and wrong throughout our whole lives. Now can any of you tell me of an example of when what is right or wrong conflicts with what is wrong or right?"

Now a lot of the students looked just plain confused, but Pinocchio once again raised his hand promptly.

"Yes, Pinocchio," said the teacher with a smile.

"Sometimes it is right to tell the truth, and sometimes it is wrong to," Pinocchio said. "Such as when we do something wrong and we aren't sure if it's right to admit to it. It's also sometimes good to just walk away from your enemies, and sometimes it's better to stand up to them."

The teacher was now just beaming with pride at Pinocchio. "Well said, Pinocchio. Very well said indeed. Now," he concluded, "Your new assignment shall be to write an essay on what the notions of doing what is right or wrong mean to all of you as individuals. Due next week, and for now class is dismissed."

So then each and every one of the students all leaped out of their seats and hurried excitedly toward the front door. Just before they left however, their teacher stood by the door and handed them each their report cards. When it was Pinocchio's turn he gave him his with a special smile and twinkle in his eyes.

Pinocchio returned the smile and then hurried on his way home with his report card in hand. It was then that a tiny cricket dressed in very fashionable clothes and a top hat and wearing a solid gold badge on his left breast peeked out from inside the brim of his hat. He was Jiminy Cricket, and was his official conscience and also his best friend.

"I get more impressed by you every day it seems, Pinoch," said Jiminy with the same kind of pride as the teacher had expressed. "You've become the smartest boy in your whole class, if not in the whole town."

"Aw, thanks, Jiminy," Pinocchio replied modestly. "I'm just want father to be proud of me, really."

"And he should be," said Jiminy. "After all, ever since you became a real boy, he has been so happy that he has been doing better for himself and his work than he ever did before, as he says."

It was minutes later that Pinocchio arrived at the little house which he and his father, Geppeto, who was a carpenter and a toy maker for a living, resided in. Geppeto himself came outside right away as Pinocchio came up the pathway while holding out his report card with a big smile on his sweet young face.

"Oh, I see you've brought back your grades. Well, let's see how they are again," Geppeto said as he hurried to meet his son.

Geppeto took the report card from Pinocchio and read it as they entered into he house. When he had finished reading it his eyes welled up with tears of love, pride, and joy all at once. Then for a moment he was too proud for words to be spoken. So he just picked up Pinocchio and hugged him tightly and kissed him on his forehead lovingly.

Pinocchio smiled as Geppeto set him down again and then looked up at him with concern as he asked, "Why the tears, Father?"

"These tears of mine are of sweet happiness and love," Geppeto assured him. "For your report says more than I could have hoped for. It says, from your teacher, that you are the most intelligent and brightest young boy that he has met in many years."

Pinocchio just smiled and blushed a little bit. He wasn't sure if he was deserving of such praise, although it made him feel good all the same. He was in all truth though just happy to be making his father proud of him and also to be fitting in so well in school and in town and with the other boys with whom he would often go out to play with when he came home.

Geppeto composed himself for a moment and then said to Pinocchio, "Well, now if you like you may go out and play with your friends. Only you must make sure to be home in time for dinner, as tonight we will be having something extra special for a celebration."

"Really! Gee, thanks, Father!" exclaimed Pinocchio happily.

He then hurried out and met up with four other boys whom he knew from school and they played kickball for a while and then went down to the lake and fished for a while. Then just before the sun began to set, Jiminy whispered to Pinocchio it was time to go home and so he said goodbye to his friends promising to see them again soon, and hurried home.

And so it was that evening that Pinocchio and Geppeto, along with Jiminy and their cat Figaro had large bowls full of minestrone for supper, and afterward they all had pieces of chocolate panetonne cake which Geppeto so lovingly baked himself.

For Pinocchio, life truly was all that he and his family could wish for it to be.


	2. Chapter 2

It was on the next morning that when Pinocchio was skipping along down the pathway toward the schoolhouse that he noticed a new little girl come along down the path from around a corner. She appeared to be a year or two younger than he was. She had long black brown hair that fell to her shoulders in ringlets and was tied at each side with a green silk ribbon. She was wearing a short pea green dress with a white apron over it, and around her neck she wore a thin gold chain that was fastened onto a large heart shaped golden locket that rested just below her neck.

Pinocchio found himself slowing down his pace at the sight of her. Of course, he had seen other girls before as they were in his school, and yet there seemed somehow to be something so completely new and different about her. She was so much prettier than any girl he had seen before. He didn't know he thought this but it seemed like this to him.

She glanced at him from behind her and he at once took off his hat and smiled at her.

"Hi!" he said to her.

"Hi," she replied with a smile.

Pinocchio sighed as he felt his heart becoming warm by her smile now. While on top of his hat, Jiminy had been very observant of what had taken place and he knew just what it was as he had observed it so often before in his time. He bent down to Pinocchio's left ear and whispered,

"Why don't you go and get to know her better? Ask her if she goes to the same school as you."

Pinocchio at once heeded Jiminy's suggestions. He skipped up briskly to the new girl's side and said, "My name is Pinocchio. What is your name?"

"My name is Sara," she replied.

"That's a nice name," he said. "Do you go to the school that I go to down this path?"

"Yes, I do now," she replied. "This will be my first day at this school. My family just moved to this village. We used to live in the one next to it."

"Why did you move here?" asked Pinocchio curiously.

"Well," Sara began softly, "It's kind of hard to talk about. You see, about a year ago my older brother, Romeo, he just... left one night and he never came back. And my parents are both very grief-stricken. They don't know what happened to him and worried something dreadful happened to him. And so they decided to move here and maybe find out about what happened to him as it was becoming too painful for them to just stay in the same place and wait for him."

Pinocchio had listened to Sara's story with much interest, and in his heart he had a very uneasy feeling that he just might know exactly what had become of her brother.

"Did he mention to you where he was going?" he asked.

Sara looked down a moment and then replied, "We were on our way to school and then these two men, actually a fox and a cat, came up to us and offered us two tickets to go to Pleasure Island, and said if we wanted to come we would have to skip school. So I promptly turned them down, but Romeo accepted right away and went off with them. I called to him to come back, and told him it wasn't right to go with those strange figures. But he just called back telling me to keep quiet about it from Mama and Papa and then he was just... gone.." Tears began to brim in her sweet brown eyes.

"I'm so sorry," said Pinocchio. And he was very much sincere in saying this as he now did know exactly what had happened to her brother. He wondered if he should tell her. It would be so hard for him to do so.

Then Sara held up the heart shaped locket from around her neck and opened it. "This," she said indicating the picture that was inside of it, "is Romeo, with me, and Mama and Papa, when we were all together."

Pinocchio looked very closely at the picture in the locket. Then he blinked and looked closer to make sure he was seeing who he thought he was. And then he was sure he was.

"Lampwick!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"Lampwick was my brother's nickname," Sara said in much surprise. "How did you know it?"

"Because I... I knew your brother," Pinocchio stammered uneasily.

"You did?" exclaimed Sara anxiously. "Then do you know anything about where he went, or what happened to him?"

"I... I do," Pinocchio said now very uncomfortable. "I.. I went to Pleasure Island with him."

"You did?" Sara exclaimed. "And why did you get back and he didn't? What happened to him?" she demanded to know now on the verge of tears than before.

Pinocchio gulped as he wished he did not have to tell her this now. Then Jiminy whispered to him, "Tell her the truth, Pinoch, trust your conscience on this."

So he sighed and told her everything, "We went to Pleasure Island and we both had so much fun it seemed to good to last, and it didn't either. Because then all of the boys there turned into donkeys."

"Do you mean they actually did turn into donkeys?" asked Sara in horror.

"Yes," Pinocchio said sadly, "And your brother turned into a donkey, I was there when he did and I watched it all happen. I even started to turn into a donkey myself, but somehow I managed to escape with just a donkey's ears and tail and laugh, and those went away eventually."

"But what happened to my brother then?" Sara exclaimed as tears fell from her eyes now.

"I'm sorry, I don't know," Pinocchio admitted with much regret.

Now Sara fell onto him and began sobbing heavily into his shoulder. He patted her shoulder gently but could find no words at all to comfort her. He tried to think of what he could do for her.

Then she wailed, "Why didn't you save him? Why couldn't you save him?"

"But I will save him! I will!" Pinocchio exclaimed stoutly. "I will save him and all of the other boys who were turned into donkeys!"

Sara pulled back from him and wiped her tears away on her apron. She looked up at him in surprise. "You really think you can save them?" she asked.

"I have to," Pinocchio replied.

"But wouldn't you have to go back to that awful place?" Sara asked.

"It would be worth it if I can save them all," Pinocchio said decidedly. "Because as I said I will have to save them. Now come on, we better hurry to school if we don't want to miss a day."

So they both hurried down the rest of the pathway and got to the schoolhouse. Then after the day was out, Pinocchio's friends asked him once again if he would like to come and play with them.

"I can't today," Pinocchio said. "I have more important things to do."

He then met up once again with Sara and she said, "So, about saving my brother and the other boys who were lost, are you certain you want to try to do this?"

"Yes, I am," Pinocchio said.

"Why?" asked Sara.

"Because it's what my heart is telling me to do, and what my conscience wants me to do... right?" he said.

Then Jiminy bent down and whispered in Pinocchio's ear again, "You're right, Pinoch, it is the right thing to do. But you must tell Geppeto about your plans or he will worry about you again, and remember what happened the last time he did."

"Right," whispered Pinocchio. Then he said to Sara, "You come home with me and meet my father and we'll tell him what we're gonna do and he can help us."

So then they hurried to Geppeto's house where Pinocchio quickly introduced Sara and they each told him the whole story about her brother and the other boys at Pleasure Island who were turned into donkeys.

"So that explains the ears and tail, and funny laugh you had when we met again," Geppeto said with realization.

"Yes, father," said Pinocchio. "And now I want to go and find all the boys, not just Lampwick, all of them, and have them turned into boys again somehow. I mean, I got my wish to be a real boy and so why shouldn't they now?"

Geppeto looked with such love at Pinocchio now that it was heartbreaking to both of them.

"I understand, my boy," he said softly, "And I suppose I would want Lampwick to go and rescue you if you were in each other's place in reverse. So you have my consent, but first we must find out just where this place called Pleasure Island is and thus find out where these doers of evil take these poor unfortunate boys and put a stop to it. If only I knew how."

Just then, from out of the window Pinocchio spotted a very bright glowing light, like a star only much bigger and wider and growing with each second closer to them. He instantly knew what it was.

"Look, it's the Blue Fairy!" he exclaimed in delight.

Then Geppeto quickly turned toward the light just as it settled into the room, and from it there came forth the blue fairy, looking just as Pinocchio remembered.

Geppeto bowed to her and said, "You gave life to my son, not once but twice, and I am forever grateful to you for it."

The Blue Fairy smiled sweetly at Geppeto and replied, "You are very welcome, but I didn't give him life only to grant your wish, though you much deserved to have it come true, but also for a much greater good that I see is now coming to be."

"I don't understand," said Geppeto.

"Neither do I," added Pinocchio.

"You will in time," the Blue Fairy assured them. "Now I will help you to make your new wish come true," she continued. "I will give you this map to guide you on your journey ahead," and so saying she produced with her magic wand a folded map which she handed to Pinocchio. "You must use it wisely and well," she continued, "for it alone will not be your only guide, only your heart can guide you throughout your journey."

"Thank you," said Pinocchio. "I will do my best."

"And so will I," added Geppeto. "We'll all take the train out first thing tomorrow morning."

The Blue Fairy smiled gently and said, "I'm afraid you Geppeto must let Pinocchio and Sara go this journey alone for it is theirs alone and no one else's."

Geppeto didn't much like the idea of letting Pinocchio go off alone again, but at the same time he felt he should trust the Blue Fairy as he was sure she knew what was in their best interest.

"And I can come with them, can't I?" asked Jiminy.

"Of course," said the Blue Fairy to the wise cricket. "A good conscience is always needed for these things. Good luck to you all, and remember you must let your hearts be your guide."

And with that the Blue Fairy vanished into the light from whence she had come from.


End file.
